The background description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
With the continued growth of the myriad digital accounts with which consumers must engage, consumers are faced with the problem of managing passwords, keys, or other tokens for securely accessing such accounts. The problem is not limited to just token management. Rather, the problem also extends into other forms of authentication or authorization for accessing consumer data (e.g., electronic medical records, social media, etc.).
Consumers continue to encounter a growing complexity of managing electronic or digital accounts. For example, a consumer may easily have dozens of financial accounts, perhaps even a dozen individual accounts with a single institution. Still further, the consumer might also have dozens or even hundreds of on-line accounts for various services: games, on-line retailers, social networks, email, or other accounts for example. Such problems are exacerbated by the explosion of new transaction services or data feeds made available to consumers for their various accounts or from new vendors. Consumers lack mechanisms by which they can discover new services and integrate such services into their daily lives with ease in view of the cacophony of digital accounts the consumers already have.
One specific area in which consumers encounter numerous account management problems includes the healthcare arena. In the healthcare arena, a consumer might have their electronic medical records or health records stored within numerous accounts spread across numerous healthcare institutions; for example, hospitals, insurance companies, dentists, specialists, primary healthcare physicians, or other healthcare entities. Unfortunately, the consumers often lack access to their data located on the remote servers of the entity storing the data. Thus, especially in healthcare, consumers not only suffer because they lack access to their own data but also suffer because it is impossible for the consumer to manage so many accounts even beyond the healthcare markets.
Thus there remains considerable need for transaction devices, systems, and methods by which consumers could manage numerous accounts, discover new services, and ingest new electronic transaction services into their lives via a simple technique.
Others have put forth effort toward systems through which consumers are able to securely access data through a common system. For example, Microsoft® offers consumers access to their Passport™ services, which allows consumers to access multiple, disparate web sites through a single login. In addition, many on-line web sites also allow users to access their services based on other site logins; Google or Facebook® logins for example. Although useful, the consumer is still required to remember their passwords. Further, the passwords generated by consumers can be easily hacked or guessed.
With the growth of communication technologies, especially cell phones, there has been movement toward using cell phones as a personalized hub of information. However, such devices lack sufficient life spans to function as a solid personalized identification system. Ideally, consumers would have access to a mechanism through which they could interact with data stores, data custodians, or other intelligent systems in a high personalized manner. What has yet to be fully appreciated is that consumers or other types of individuals could use their own genomic information to interact with myriad types of computing systems where the individual's genomic information provides for highly personalized transactions. Thus, there remains a need for personalized, genome-based transaction devices, transaction servers, or transaction systems.
Systems have been described that offer consumers access to biometric authentication systems, which aid in personalizing a user's key. For example, U.S. patent application 2013/0307670 to Ramaci titled “Biometric Authentication System”, filed May 13, 2013, discusses a biometric authentication system. A user's cell phone could store a user's biometric information (e.g., finger print, EKG signature, etc.), which can be used as a key. Interestingly, Ramaci states that one could access genomic database on using their disclosed techniques, but fails to appreciate devices, systems and methods set forth in the present invention.
In a somewhat similar fashion, U.S. patent application publication 2010/0121872 to Subramaniam titled “Personally Controlled Storage and Testing of Personal Genomic Information”, filed internationally on Mar. 27, 2008, discusses a portable storage device that can store a person's genomic information. Although the storage device could be a USB device and could store genomic information, Subramaniam also fails to appreciate devices, systems and methods set forth in the present invention that may be used in a secure transaction system.
U.S. patent application publication 2002/0129251 to Itakura et al. titled “Method and System for Individual Authentication and Digital Signature Utilizing Article having DNA Based ID Information Mark”, filed May 17, 2001, describes a method of using a person's DNA mixed with ink along with a recording medium storing genome related information as a means for authenticating the person. Similarly, U.S. patent application publication 2014/0074696 to Glaser titled “Credit Card Form Factor Secure Mobile Computer and Methods”, filed Sep. 9, 2013, also describes a device where a genome can be used interchangeably as one would use a finger print, or retinal scan, except in a credit card format.
Use of a person's genome as a security measure or as personal identification has previously presented numerous problems. One major problem relates to keeping a person's genome information secure. A threat (e.g., a malicious person or entity) could easily obtain a tissue sample from the person without much difficulty. For example, the threat could simply obtain ambient skin flakes or hair follicles even without the person knowing their tissues have been compromised. In such circumstances, the threat could analyze the tissue samples to obtain a whole genome sequence (WGS) of the person. The threat can then use the WGS of the person to assume the person's identity especially in situations where the WGS data is used as a key in a digital transaction setting.
Glaser posits that a genome could be used interchangeably as one would use their name, social security number, driver's licenses, or other ID. However, as stated above, in the Glaser approach a threat could merely obtain a tissue sample from a person in order to gain sufficient information to represent themselves as the person.
A more ideal approach would improve on the genomic information to ensure that the secure genomic information remains intimately linked to the person even in view of threats gaining access to an unauthorized tissue sample. Thus, there remains a need for devices, systems, or methods that further secure the identity of individuals based on genomic information.